


Flying Home

by Squeaky



Series: Intoabar fics [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, White Collar
Genre: Airports, Angst, Chance Meetings, Community: intoabar, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-24 22:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2598758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squeaky/pseuds/Squeaky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate Moreau asks good questions. Evan Lorne might even have an answer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flying Home

**Author's Note:**

> With huge thanks to [ Taste_is_Sweet](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Taste_is_Sweet/pseuds/Taste_is_Sweet) for the help getting this fic going. It would absolutely not exist without her. And she's also a brilliant beta, too.
> 
> And thanks very much to the Intoabar mods. This is great fun.
> 
> * * *

Major Evan Lorne looked out of the window of the Colorado Springs Airport. 

It was a bright, sunny day. One of those perfect afternoons where the temperature is flawless and the vast blue sky seems to go on forever. Out on the apron, the airport workers were putting the finishing touches on Evan’s plane; loading luggage and food and making ready for the three-hour flight to San Francisco. 

Evan was a Major in the Air Force. He’d been flying planes for what felt like forever, and yet he was still fascinated by the activity every airport required; the time and attention it took to get a plane into the sky.

The fact that it might be the last time he ever saw it also added to his interest. He was going to be back on Atlantis in a little under five hours. They would take off to return to the Pegasus Galaxy in about eighteen. The Pegasus Galaxy was beautiful and amazing and full of wonders, but it was also a savage and violent place, one he might not return from. He might not live long enough to ever come back to Earth again. 

Sighing, Evan hoisted his duffel bag higher on his shoulder. He was wearing his military greens, choosing to travel in his field gear rather than his formal blues. People often mistook him for army in this gear, but he didn’t really mind. They were all serving their country after all. He’d had worse insults. 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a young woman slide up beside him. She was young and pretty with pale skin and light brown hair that fell well past her shoulders. Her eyes were so blue they looked almost luminescent, as bright as the sky stretching beyond the windows.

“Hello, solider,” she said.

Evan turned to grin at her. “It’s Air Force, actually.” He stuck out his hand. “Evan Lorne, Major.” 

She grinned back. “Kate Moreau, average citizen.”

In his younger days, Evan might have followed her comment with something flirty, such as “not all that average,” and she would've laughed. But now? Now he was in his late thirties and she was probably more than a decade younger, and life had felt too short for meaningless flirting for a long time now. So instead he said: “What brings an ‘average citizen’ to the Colorado Springs Airport?” 

“Probably the same as you,” she said. “I’m flying away.” 

That turned his grin into a rueful smile. If only she knew how far away he’d be flying. “It’s probably not quite the same.”

She glanced at him, and then turned back to the window. “Probably not.”

They stood in silence for a while, watching the industry on the tarmac. “You have family in Colorado?” she asked.

“No.” He shook his head. “They’re in San Francisco, actually. I was in Colorado on Air Force business. I’m heading back to San Francisco now.” 

She crossed her arms and turned towards him, openly curious. “You married?” 

He shook his head again. “My mother and sister. And her boys.”

“Ah.” She said it like he'd just revealed something profound. “Too busy to get married, I’ll bet.”

He thought of Atlantis, and the people there, and of Kate Heightmeyer who had died before he’d been able to tell her how he felt, or of Teyla Emmagan, who had found the love of her life before he’d realized what she meant to him. He huffed out a laugh. “Something like that.” He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, the way the light played across her pale skin, lighting her like a marble statue. “What about you?” he asked, “anyone special?”

She looked startled, like she hadn’t expected him to ask her that question. “No,” she said after a moment. “Well, not anymore.”

She seemed very young and fragile after that confession. “I’m sorry.” 

She shrugged, feigning a casualness that she obviously didn’t feel. “I didn’t think it was going to work out.”

“That happens sometimes,” he said, and she made a small noise in agreement. 

“So,” she said after another minute or so of silence. “You on leave or something? Going home to see your family?” 

“Funnily enough, no,” he said. It'd been the hardest part of Atlantis landing in the San Francisco Bay, that he couldn’t go see his family. All leave had been cancelled until the situation was sorted out. And now that they were gearing up to head back to Pegasus, there wouldn’t be any time. “My assignment is there. I won’t get the chance.”

“Bummer,” she said. She raised an eyebrow. “You’re assignment is in San Francisco?”

He gave a half-shrug. “Only the prep period. We’ll be leaving from there.” 

She nodded in understanding. “And then where are you going?”

“I’d tell you—“ he started.

“But then I’d have to kill you,” she finished with him and laughed. “I kinda figured you for a ‘black ops’ guy.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah,” she affirmed. “You don’t look like a usual officer. You’re…“ She waved her hand at him. “Tougher.” 

He raised his eyebrow. “I’ll take that as a compliment, I think.”

“You should.” She nodded. “Definitely a compliment.” Her smile was back. She was breathtakingly lovely when she smiled. “But it must be tough not to be able to see your family.” 

Evan found himself focusing on the tarmac outside. The baggage cart crew had finished their job and the big conveyer belt was being moved back from the plane, its steady beeping audible even through the glass. He cleared his throat. “It’s been the toughest part so far,” he said honestly, “being away from them.” 

“Must be,” she said. “I don’t have much family myself. I always wanted a big family.” Her smile was fragile, tenuous, and very much forced. “But you don’t want to hear about that.”

“My nephews were three and four when I left for the first time,” he said. “Now they’re ten and eleven, and they hardly recognize me.” He felt his smile slip. “It’s tough.”

“So, why’d you do it then?” She turned towards him, arms still crossed. “You have a family. A mom, a sister, nephews who love you. Why’d you leave them? Why are you leaving them now?”

Evan blinked, surprised at the sudden challenge in her questions. “Why does anyone do anything?” he asked. “Duty, honour—“

“Love,” she cut in. “People do lots of things for love.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “They do.”

“Is that why you’re doing this?” she asked, gesturing at him: his gear, his uniform. “Because of love? Is the love you have for your country bigger than your love for your family?”

It was an extremely personal question, and harsh to boot, but Evan considered it. He’d nearly died so many times in the Pegasus Galaxy that her questioning him wasn’t the first time he’d thought about it. _Why haven’t I left?_ he thought. He used to think it was because of Kate, and then Teyla, but they were both gone now. Out of his reach and completely unobtainable. He knew his family loved him. His mother and sister would always welcome him home. _Home,_ he thought. He smiled.

“It is love,” he said. “But it’s not that my love of country is bigger than my love for my mother and sister. I have people on At—where I’m going. People that I also love.” His smile widened. “I guess I’m leaving one home for another.”

“Home,” she repeated, and everything about her softened. “So you’re mission feels like home?”

He nodded. “Yeah, it does.”

Her sigh was wistful. “It must be nice to have a place like that.”

His heart broke a little bit looking at her. “There must be some place like that for you,” he said. “A young woman like you? There must be lots of places.”

“Maybe someday,” she said. “Someday I’ll find one of those places.”

“I hope you do,” he said. 

She opened her mouth to say something when the overhead announcement sounded announcing the first boarding of his flight. “That’s me,” he said apologetically. 

She waved him off. “It’s okay, flyboy,” she said. “I’ll catch you on the flip side.”

He gave her a half-wave in return, hoisted his duffel further onto his shoulder and turned towards the boarding gate. He turned back. “Hey,” he said, waiting until she looked towards him. “Don’t give up hope. There’s a place for you out there. Never, ever give up hope.” 

Her eyes grew shiny and she hugged herself. “I won’t.” she gave him a tremulous smile. “Thanks.”

He nodded and stuck out his hand. “Good luck, Kate Moreau, not-so-average citizen.”

She laughed and shook his hand. “Good luck, Not-just-Air force Major Evan Lorne. Fly safe.” 

“You too,” he said. He turned back towards his gate. 

He got in line and pulled out his papers. The ground crew hostess let him to the front of the line because of his uniform and before he knew it, they were checking his boarding pass and he was heading onto the flight. 

He looked back towards where Kate had been standing, but she was gone.

 _Be well, Kate Moreau,_ he thought. _Be happy._ And then he disappeared through the gate towards the future.

END


End file.
